Data Methodology
AppPrice Radar publishes daily public price snapshots so you can compare the same app across App Store regions. This page explains where the numbers come from, how we process them, and where they can be wrong—so you can judge how much weight to give them.
Last updated: July 2026
Why this site exists
The same app or subscription often lists at different public prices across App Store regions. Tax, local pricing, promotions, and currency all make “where is it cheaper?” hard to answer by hand. We turn curated public list prices into browsable daily snapshots—not a purchasing agent, and not a toolkit for abusing platform rules.
Below: coverage, storage rules, cross-region subscription matching, and hard lines we will not cross. For a shorter project overview see About Us; for usage boundaries see Terms of Service.
Data sources
Prices and app metadata come from Apple’s public App Store data surfaces: app lookup for list price and base metadata, and the structured catalog API for in-app purchases and subscription tiers. We only use publicly readable information—we do not scrape private, login-gated, or non-public endpoints.
The catalog currently covers about 100 curated apps across about 20 App Store regions. Coverage can change; on-page stats follow the current snapshot. Names, icons, and store links belong to their rights holders. This project has no official affiliation with Apple.
Collection cadence and immutable snapshots
Collection runs automatically once per day, targeting roughly 02:00 UTC. Each successful run writes a daily snapshot: apps, regions, local-currency amounts, currency codes, and related metadata.
Once written, a daily snapshot is treated as historical record. We do not rewrite past numbers to make charts look nicer. Timestamps reflect when that collection finished—not a live query at the moment you open the page.
Price basis and FX
At ingest we store each region’s original list price (amount + currency code). We do not force every price into CNY during collection. Only at display time do we convert to a CNY reference using public FX rates for the snapshot’s date, so cross-region comparison is readable.
Keeping local currency at rest avoids stacking multi-step conversion noise into history. CNY is a reference only—it is not necessarily your settlement currency or tax-inclusive total. Your App Store account and checkout page are authoritative.
How subscriptions are matched across regions
The same subscription is often localized under different storefront names. We align tiers across regions using a name-union plus billing period (monthly, yearly, and similar). Only reliably mapped products sit side by side; when mapping is weak we mark unmatched instead of inventing a price.
When one name exposes multiple price points (for example legacy vs new-user/standard pricing), we use the standard (typically higher) price for the main comparison and label the context so a promo or legacy tier is not mistaken for the normal shelf price.
Honesty red lines
These rules outrank a “complete-looking” page. We would rather leave a gap or mark something incomparable than invent data.
- Never invent prices: without a reliable observation, we do not print a fake precise amount.
- Failed collection is never treated as a valid value: timeouts, parse errors, or failed requests do not fabricate a new price, and we do not silently present an old value as freshly collected.
- Apps without IAP are shown as such: if the catalog has no subscription/IAP products, the UI says so—we do not invent tiers.
- Free apps still show membership/subscription pricing: when the app body is free, the comparison focus is membership or subscription tiers across regions—not a blanket “free” label.
Freshness and limitations
In product terms, a snapshot generated within about 48 hours is treated as “fresh”; older data is flagged so you treat it as historical. If an app stays unavailable in observation (for example delisted) for more than about 7 days, we mark it unavailable rather than implying it is still on sale.
- Prices are reference snapshots, not official settlement amounts; availability, tax, and payment totals follow the App Store.
- Intraday FX moves can make the CNY reference differ slightly from checkout at another moment.
- Regional list/delist events, Apple price changes, promo windows, and catalog edits can create short-lived mismatches.
- We do not run a live per-page Apple query; what you see is the latest successful collection.
What to do next
If the methodology makes sense, start from the price comparison home or open cheapest rankings for cross-region savings. Spot an obvious error? Tell us via Contact.